Pacific Climate Change Portal Training Programme

22 February 2013, Pohnpei, Federated States
of Micronesia - A recently-launched regional
initiative to improve online access to current and accurate
climate-relevant information reached yet another landmark
this week as Northern Pacific users of the Pacific Climate
Change Portal came together in Pohnpei, Federated States of
Micronesia, to undergo training on using and contributing to
this regionally-owned information system.

The
Pacific Climate Change Portal is an online platform designed
to enable Pacific island nations to take responsibility for
regional information sharing into their own hands. Once
trained, in-country personnel will receive administrative
access, enabling them to upload information directly on to
the portal.

“Access to accurate, scientifically
valid, Pacific-relevant information will enable more
informed decisions in responding to the impacts of and
adapting to climate change,” said Mr Kosi Latu, Deputy
Director General of the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional
Environment Programme (SPREP).

Speaking at the
opening of the 3-day sub-regional workshop, Mr Latu
reiterated that the Portal would only be as effective as the
input at the national level.

“Although SPREP is
leading and managing the development of the Portal, we are
doing that with the support of several other partners, and
that includes the participants at this workshop - your input
is critical if the portal is to reach its full potential.”

The Portal is the result of requests from Pacific
island countries for a centralised approach to information
sharing on climate change around the region. The resulting
mechanism includes information on current projects and
initiatives in climate change, a register of experts, a
projects database, documents database, a calendar of events,
and a country profile section. Most of these will rely on
direct updating by country personnel.

“We see the
Pacific Climate Change Portal as a hub that will bring
together tailored information of relevance to our own people
- information that is currently scattered across the region
and within our countries,” said Mr Simpson Abraham,
Coordinator of the Pacific Climate Change Adaptation Project
in Federated States of Micronesia.

“It will also
be a way of keeping track of what different donors and CROP
(Council of Regional Organisations in the Pacific) agencies
are doing in climate change in the countries.”
Participants at the workshop agreed that there was also a
need to systematise information flows at national level in
order to enable such coordination.

The Pacific
Climate Change Portal is coordinated by SPREP in partnership
with a growing number of organisations including Secretariat
of the Pacific Community (SPC), University of the South
Pacific (USP),Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS),The
German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) and the
European Union’s Global Climate Change Alliance for the
Pacific Small Island States programme, based at SPC
(GCCA-PSIS).

Ongoing financial and technical
support in developing and maintaining the portal is being
provided by GIZ.

The EU GCCA-PSIS at based at SPC
has provided financial, technical and logistical support for
the Northern Pacific sub-regional training programme.
Support was also provided by the Asia Pacific Adaptation
Network. The first training of this kind held in Suva, Fiji
last year, was funded and supported by the International
Climate Change Adaptation Initiative of the Australian
government and GIZ.

International Solidarity Movement On the 20th of March, during Ni’lin’s weekly Friday demonstration, Israeli occupation forces attacked protestors with about 20 rounds of tear gas canisters shot with the ‘venom’ tear gas launcher mounted on a military jeep ... More>>

Yemen stands on the brink of civil war amid deepening political tensions and an uptick in sectarian violence, United Nations Special Adviser Jamal Benomar warned today as he explained that only through dialogue could the country achieve a peaceful political transition. More>>

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is dispatching emergency life-saving supplies to communities in Tuvalu as part of its efforts to assist communities in the Pacific region that were affected by Tropical Cyclone Pam, with nutrition and hygiene kits arriving today. More>>